Becoming a Londoner

Today was my first day at Cameron House! It was all very exciting, but I was a little nervous as well! I am interning in level 3 classroom which consist of 18 adorable children between the ages of 7-8. This semester I will be helping out Suzanne and Huge. They are both teachers that work in the level 3 classroom. Suzanne is very bubbly and has a great personality. She is wonderful with the children and they all respect her very much. Teaching under her is going to be a blast! Hugh is wonderful as well! He helps out in level 3 and is also the head of sports. He is very energetic and the children love him. He brings a positive atmosphere to the class and is always encouraging. The schedule is very different compared to the state schools I am used to assisting in. They don’t start school till around 8:30ish-9:00 and go to almost 4:00 in the afternoon. The children begin the day with house meetings which reminds me a lot of Harry Potter, but is very similar to a student council. Both the teachers and children have different ways of teaching and learning than what I am used too. For example, the students participate in regular French, reasoning, logic, geography, and “challenge time.” Each day is also different which is also unique. The rooms are very small, it makes moving around the room almost impossible, but on the flip side makes for a close community of learners.  I have already learned all 18 of my students’ names by heart and have begun the next task of conquering their personalities. I will talk about at least two of them each week. First I will introduce Malu. Malu is a sweetheart with little brown curls, bright blue eyes, and an accent to die for. She has a kind heart, and a mind of her own. She is very intelligent and needs little assistance as she is very independent. She is very athletic and loves participating in Uni-hoc, which is a sport similar to hockey, but for smaller children. She enjoys being a striker and scoring on all the boys. Then there is Trey. Trey has blonde curling hair and big blues eyes. He is from America as well, North Carolina to be exact, so he and I are buddies. Trey’s Birthday was Tuesday and he turned the big 8! He brought treats for the class and even remembered one for me. Trey has the biggest smile that just melts your heart. He cares about all the boys and girls in his class and goes out of his way to put his classmates first. Trey is also very humble, which is why I believe he is admired by all his classmates. He is very intelligent and also excels in all his studies. I am super excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to keep everyone updated!  

Wednesday night we went to the musical Les Miserable. I had never been to a musical before so I was very excited to go. It turned out to be an awesome experience and everyone loved it even all the boys! I really would like to go see others before our time is up, including Wicked, Chicago, and Thriller. Wednesday was also the first day our classes began. I have Art with a large group of my friends. We learned about the different types of genres, and the history behind different types of buildings.  This week we are starting to tour art galleries which I am very excited for! We are starting off at The National Art Gallery. Thursday we also had class, but British History. We talked a lot about the newspapers and different types of media in London. We also talked about interesting facts and current events that presently occupy London. On our way to class the elevators at one of the tube stations was backed up, so we had the pleasure of running up 175 stairs. We were only 5 minutes late to class! Surprisingly we weren’t the last ones and class hadn’t even started so we were golden. Thursday night our friends from Wales came to visit! Long story short it was quite the adventure! We could not figure out what bus lead to Euston Station so we told our friends to hike with their luggage to Trafalgar Square (nice I know.)  I was skeptical that they wouldn’t be able to find it, but within an hour the impressively found us! We waited outside for at least two hours, but it was well worth the wait! We had a blast with them here and it was so good to see them! I wish they didn’t have to leave ever! I believe that next weekend we are going to Bangor to visit them. While they were here we did lots and lots. We went to Borough and Camden Markets, Oxford street, Tiger Tiger, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, London eye, M&M world, China Town, Hyde Park, and much more! Sadly the weekend had to come to an end, but it was by far the best week in London thus far!

A Week in London

So far I have been having a blast in London, as well as keeping very busy! I have met lots of new people, while at the same time remaining close to those I came with! Last Tuesday night our directors took us bowling. I’m not the best at bowling, but I beat the boys in my group Ryan, Nic, and Tanner and I have picture proof to prove it! The bowling alley was very neat and the atmosphere was very exciting and fun.  It was very similar to a lounge or pub. Our director Jen ordered us 13 pizzas. We were all pretty hungry and did not have to pay, so we did not object, but when the pizza came out they were enormous! They were also very delicious! There were 34 of us and we polished off all the pizza, but a box in a half. I think I had 2 but they seemed equivalent to the size of one whole pizza!

After bowling we all decided to check out the pub near our house called the Dukes of York. Upon entering the tube station Jacob realized that he still had his bowling shoes on, so we had to run back to exchange them for his actual shoes. The pub was a very fun place for us all to hang out and get to know one another!

On Wednesday I had my interview with my internship. This semester I will be interning at Cameron House School. It is a private school in Chelsea for students ages 4-11. Getting there Wednesday morning was quite the task. It was my first time traveling the city of London by myself, but I felt up to the task and was actually very excited. I knew the bus I needed to get on and the general area, I also had directions from our director Jen so I wasn’t too worried. Jen told me it took about 20-30 minutes to get there and my interview was at 9:30 a.m. so I woke up about 7 to get all ready and eat before I left. While getting ready I realized I had misplaced my directions and neither director was in the office yet. Fortunately I had looked them over many times I had felt confident enough to just wing it. It started off rough; I hopped on the wrong bus. Once I got off that bus, my bus never came so I just hopped on one that was traveling towards where I wanted to go. Once I got off I had no idea so I just asked people every chance I got and somehow wound up at the right spot and on time.

The school is located in a very wealthy part of London. Lindsey is also working in the same area so that will be nice to potentially have someone to journey to work with. The school is like no other school I have ever seen. It is located in a neighborhood between two houses. It is actually a house itself. It is not very big, but very tall. They make good use of the space they do have. There are very many stairs and about 5-6 floors. The students are adorable in their matching uniforms and precious accents. They each have private music lessons throughout the day along with art and French class. They are so unbelievably smart and well mannered. Here they call grades, “levels.” I will be starting out in level 3, which is equivalent to second grade, ages 7-8. I had no preference, as any age would be a wonderful experience I can’t wait to begin! I must also add a bit about the Headmistress Luci Moore. She was so sweet to me and made me feel right at home! She was very energetic and outgoing and knew all the children by heart. I’m very excited to be working for such a kind hearted woman who cares a lot about what her job.

  Friday Morning we got to tour the University of London of Union. It was pretty neat there are a plethora of fun activities and clubs to take part in! I’m considering football (soccer), dance, art, or even some type of kickboxing sounds fun! There is also a really sweet workout place with fun classes that I also might consider joining once I get into a routine and figure out how to get there efficiently! After touring the University we were divided into groups for a scavenger hunt. I was paired with Nic and Alissa, both really cool people which made the hunt that much more enjoyable! We had to travel around London, purchase certain items, and take picture of specifics along the way! My group started off very well, long story short our subway broke down and we waited at least an hour so unfortunately we finished dead last, but we had a blast and got to see some really neat sites, so all in all it was well worth it!

Touring London

Today was officially our first adventurous day in London and I must say it was a blast! We started off the day with orientation which surprising was pretty entertaining. We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot. A police officer came to talk about “safety.” His name was David and he was hilarious. We learned to watch out for pick pockets the “draggers” and the “huggers” We also learned a bit about stereotypes apparently Londoners are very intrigued by our politics. They like Obama and the way our country is run. A couple things that I find really amusing about the London culture, is they are very reserved. They keep to themselves pretty much and engage in little conversation, unless you engage in it first.

After orientation we went on an amazing tour of London! We traveled to many places, and even got to experience the tube and bus life. We soon came to find that these systems may take some practice, but we will master it! We went to lots of places (many I can’t even begin to remember, but all significant!) We got to see the London Tower, London Eye, the first London Bridge, an Olympic site, and much more! It’s all so exciting! I got some pretty neat pictures, but very few with us in them. It was hard enough to take pictures and concentrate on what he was saying at the same time, let alone pose for them, but we got some pretty good ones! Overall we had a ton of fun!

When we got back we went out to eat at a pub with our friends Ryan, Nick, Kirsten, and Tanner. So far all we have had is cider and fish and chips, but it makes for a great meal! Around 10:45 we decided we wanted to explore London yet some more so we took a right turn and walked and walked and walked. We took the tube by ourselves (which was a big deal) we headed west and decided to get off a stop past where we should have to try to find our way back. We made it about half way, until we broke down and decided to hop on a bus, but even that was tricky. Long story short we made it back safe and sound and stumbled upon some neat spots along the way!

Touched down in London Town

After a full day of flying Tess, Lindsey, and finally touched down in London Town! We left Chicago at 3:50pm and arrived in London at 5:15am. We have officially been here about an hour now and are just waiting for Holly’s flight to arrive so that we can take the shuttle to Vandon House! We are all pretty tired, but have decided not to sleep until it’s time for London to sleep. Apparently that is the best way to adjust to the new time zone, so we’re going to give it a shot.

This morning was a little emotional for all of us, we left behind many love ones. After huddling in a corner hugging one another, we put it all behind us and prepared ourselves for the best adventure of our lives. We had quite the experience in the airport, but laughed the whole way through. First, Lindsey got randomly selected by security, and had to have her hands swabbed for explosives hahaha. Then as we proceeded through the line, she did not bag ANY of her hundreds (no joke) of liquids. We spent a good 20-30 minutes helping security bag them all. Luckily they were really cool and laughed the whole time with us. From their things just kept getting better we all got to sit by one another and even made “friends” with a stewardess who was scheduled to do our London flight, but had to switch to the Amsterdam flight. She took us under her wing and showed us exactly where to go in Chicago and thank goodness because I don’t think we would have been able to figure it out otherwise.

Our flight from Chicago to London was a total of 8 hours and 5 minutes, but felt more like 4-5hours. We watched movies, listened to music, talked, and even read (and not just magazines either). The accents so far have been AMAZING! I want to talk like them so bad! We are already working on ours, but for some reason ours sound like more of a cross between southern bell and hick. We shall just keep practicing!

We got picked up from “Chris” at the airport. It was weird driving on the other side of the road. We all got into the wrong side of the car too ha. He gave us some good information and showed us around a bit; everything is super neat and very pretty! I already want to live here forever! Tess, Linds, and I love our room. It’s decent sized and has a nice bathroom inside it! We are going to rearrange our room for more space and then try to hit the city with the rest of our classmates!

Ello London

In two short days I will be off to London for the semester to study abroad and Travel Europe. Many of my friends are also studying abroad this semester in various places around Europe. I can't wait to see what the next four months has in store for us!